Big Head Todd gets rockin' again with winter tour

Thursday

Jan 31, 2013 at 12:01 AM

When members of Big Head Todd and the Monsters decided to record in 2012, they knew the direction they wanted to go.

By JASON GILMERFor the Herald-Journal

When members of Big Head Todd and the Monsters decided to record in 2012, they knew the direction they wanted to go.“This record will be back to a classic Big Head Todd rock and roll record,” said drummer Brian Nevin. “The last record was more on the vibier and bluesy side. We have blues roots so there will always be that element to the writing but this has more rock songs and I think our fans will really like this record.”Nevin, along with singer and guitarist Todd Park Mohr, bassist Rob Squires and keyboardist Jeremy Lawton, will play some of their new songs during their winter tour, which includes a 9 p.m. Friday stop at the Orange Peel in Asheville, N.C.Nevin said there isn't a release date set for the new record, which follows their 2011 release which was a tribute to bluesman Robert Johnson.“It's nice for us to have new ammo to tour with,” he said.Mohr, who now lives in Chicago, is a constant writer of songs and poetry, Nevin said, which makes it hard sometimes to scale down the song list for a record.“We have a backlog of material and have to find window of opportunity to record,” Nevin said.The group formed in Colorado in 1986 and reached mass appeal seven years later with the release of their third record, “Sister Sweetly.”Three songs off the record charted on the mainstream rock chart, with “Broken Hearted Savior” cracking the top 10.The record was released 20 years ago this summer and the group plans to play it in its entirety at a show in June at the famed Red Rocks Amphitheatre. “It doesn't feel like it's been 20 years,” Nevin said. “It's hard to believe we've been doing this for that long. We started our band as three buddies (Lawton joined later) who enjoyed playing music together and we didn't think it was something we'd do professionally.“We look at it as a blessing to be able to play music together.”